


Supermassive

by Shadow_Side



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Science, established threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 02:57:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12049872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Side/pseuds/Shadow_Side
Summary: Science does the strangest things in Night Vale. Especially when you're trying to recreate purest black.[A stand-alone fic set inChiralityverse.]





	Supermassive

**Author's Note:**

> A weird little one for you today – this is based on an idea I had waaaaaaaaay back when, which ended up getting sidelined because _Songs of the Enantiomers_ had just taken over my life. Needless to say, it's finally time for it to find a place as part of Chiralityverse too.
> 
> Maintaining the musical-naming-theme, the title is from the Muse song of the same name ( _Supermassive Black Hole_ in full - which is, incidentally, one of my favourite songs).
> 
> This one is set at some point during the summer after _Songs of the Enantiomers_ , but before _Three Strikes_. As always, please refer to the [Chiralityverse Series Notes](http://archiveofourown.org/series/146883) for some helpful guidance on reading orders for this series as a whole.
> 
> And yes, Cecil gets POV all the way through this time. Because I said so!

It's a very normal Sunday afternoon in Night Vale.

So far, it's been very productive, too. Cecil has gotten an editorial written for Monday's show ( _'The dangers of unlicensed chanting dens and their effects on the youth of today'_ ) and he's just contemplating the relative merits of firing up Netflix to see if there's anything good to watch (there's a new documentary on cursed coins that _everyone_ in town is talking about) when Carlos comes wandering in from the direction of his lab.

Right now, the scientist looks a little perplexed. "Uh… could I borrow you for a moment?" he asks.

Cecil grins and leaps up at once. "Of course," he replies. "Is it for science? You know I'm always in favour of that."

"Yes, it's for science, but… Cecil, I'm confused. Just… just come see. Or, you know, _not_ see."

Now a little perplexed himself, Cecil follows Carlos down to his lab, where he's been working most of the afternoon. "OK, so… I've been doing some research on Vantablack."

Cecil stares. " _Vantablack?_ " he repeats.

"Yes," Carlos replies. "It was originally developed by a team of scientists in England, and they say it's the blackest substance ever made. It absorbs over ninety-nine-point-nine percent of all light. Here, look, I'll show you…"

He pulls out his phone, flicks through a couple of things, and then hands it to Cecil. On the screen is an image that… OK, wow, that is just…

"…Carlos, this is a picture of _void_ ," Cecil can't help pointing out. "And we probably shouldn't stare at it for too long. People have gone insane doing far less."

"Oh, don't worry, Cecil, it's just science."

"So was that self-replicating gel you invented!"

"That would have revolutionised the world if the City Council hadn't stopped me."

"It absorbed three people!"

Carlos looks a little sheepish. "…That part was an accident. And I said I was sorry. And… look, getting back to the point… I thought the Vantablack thing was cool, so I decided to make some."

Cecil stares. "You made _void?_ " he asks, slightly alarmed by the answer he might be about to hear.

"Well… there's the thing," Carlos says. "I _tried_ to. But I think this town may have had an effect on it because… oh, see for yourself…"

And he gestures to the workbench beside them. Cecil stares for a moment, just in case he's misunderstood, and then he looks at Carlos again. "Uh… Carlos… there's nothing there."

"No, no, there is, you just can't see it," Carlos replies. "See?"

He picks something up. Or, his hand moves like he's picked something up, but there's nothing there. Nothing at all. Only then he takes Cecil's hand, and places the _nothing_ into it. And the nothing is clearly _something_ , because right now, Cecil can tell he's holding… whatever it is. It feels like a smooth rock, about as big as his hand and weighing pretty much what you would expect for a rock of that size.

Except he can't see it. At all.

"…Whoa," he breathes, grinning suddenly. "Carlos, what… what _is_ it?"

"Good question," Carlos replies. "I don't know precisely what happened, but I think I must have pushed it beyond absorbing light and into… whatever this is. To be honest, you should probably put it down. I'm mildly concerned it may be a small inversion in reality."

"An inversion in reality? Isn't it just invisible?"

"No, see – or don't see – that's the thing. It isn't invisible."

"But… I can't see it."

"Yes, I know. But invisibility is a very _distinct_ physical property, and this… this isn't invisible. You just can't see it."

"…Aren't those the same thing?"

"Not to science."

"Oh. So… wait, is this something that doesn't exist?"

Carlos shakes his head. "Like the house? No. No, this definitely exists. It's definitely there, and it's definitely not invisible."

"It feels… sort of warm," Cecil now says, and he's sure that it didn't when Carlos first handed it to him.

"It does?" Carlos replies, looking instantly intrigued again. "Hmmmm. That's unexpected…"

He reaches a hand out to touch the _whatever-it-is_ , without actually taking it from Cecil. "Oh," he says. "Yes, you're right, it's definitely warm. And it was cool before. And… is it getting _warmer_?"

"I'm not sure," Cecil answers. "It… OK, it might be, or I might be imagining it, or…"

"…Are you two being adorable again?" comes a voice from the doorway.

It's Kevin. He paces over to join them, a smile on his face, looking pleased to have walked in on something.

"We're doing science," Cecil insists, with a smile of his own. "How's your sister?"

"Kirsten's good," Kevin answers. "We had coffee at that place in Desert Bluffs, the one Darla's so fond of. Then I got back and I was going to ask if you wanted to watch that documentary on cursed coins because I _swear_ I found one of those when I was a teenager, and…"

Kevin's eyes flick between the two of them, and then down to the mysterious and invisible-except-not object they're both holding.

"You _are_ being cute again," Kevin says, now looking quite delighted by the prospect. "Also, why are you holding a bright pink rock?"

"A… wait, what?" Carlos starts out, then stops. "Kevin… can you _see_ this thing?"

"Sure I can," Kevin replies. "You can't?"

"No," Cecil answers. "No, neither of us can see it."

"What _is_ it, anyway?" Kevin now asks, taking a step closer and reaching out to also touch the thing the other two are still holding.

Carlos nods down at it. "It's Vantablack. Or… it was supposed to be."

"Vantablack?" Kevin repeats.

Carlos nods again. Carlos _loves_ talking science with the pair of them, and is clearly happy about getting to do the explanation a second time. Even if he is now also looking at Kevin like he maybe wants to do tests on him.

"Yes," Carlos says. "Vantablack. It's the blackest substance ever created. It absorbs over ninety-nine-point-nine percent of all light."

"OK," Kevin replies, with a nod of his own. "So… why is it pink?"

"It isn't pink!" Carlos insists. "It's invisible! Well, OK, no, it isn't invisible. You just can't see it."

"Aren't those the same thing?"

"…No," Carlos says, in something approaching what Cecil has heard him refer to as 'scientist-wrangling voice'. "They're just… similar. And… and I don't know why it's like this. It was supposed to be _black_. But Night Vale is a very weird place, and I think… I _theorise_ … that it might have had an effect on my experiment."

"An effect?" Kevin repeats. "Like… making it go pink? Hot pink, actually."

"No!" Carlos insists, and then looks at the not-invisible thing. "Or yes. Possibly yes. I'm not sure."

A beat. "I could do some tests on you. To work out why you can see it. And why you think it's pink."

"When you say 'tests', is that code for something else?" Kevin asks, with a suddenly wicked look in his eyes.

"No!" Carlos insists again, blushing slightly. "It's code for science!"

Not that the two are mutually-exclusive in his case. Not by a long-shot. Cecil can't help a little grin of his own.

"It is supposed to be so warm?" Kevin now asks, looking at the thing again.

"I don't think so," Carlos answers. "It wasn't warm until I let Cecil touch it. Now… now it's getting warmer and warmer."

"You think maybe we should put it down?" Cecil wonders aloud, trying not to let a note of apprehension show in his voice. "You know, just in case?"

Carlos headtilts, eyes moving from Cecil and down to the weird thing in their hands, and then back again. "Yes," he decides, after a moment. "Yes, that might be wise. For health and safety reasons."

It's at this point that a new problem presents itself. "So, tell me," Kevin starts out. "Are either of you actually able to let go of it?"

"…Nope," Cecil manages, having just tried for several seconds and found it impossible.

"Me neither," Carlos adds. "Now that _is_ fascinating."

"Huh," Cecil says. "Well. That's… going to be a problem."

"Yes," Kevin concurs. "Yes, it is definitely going to be a problem."

The three of them pause for a long moment, and Cecil can't help hoping that Carlos, at least, is in the middle of coming up with a solution. Due to how smart he is.

"It didn't do this before," Carlos says, finally. "When I was working on it."

"Do you think maybe one of us did something to it?" Cecil asks. "You know, totally by accident."

"It's more than likely," Carlos answers. "It went warm when you touched it, and Kevin can _see_ it, so… I think it's safe to say one of you is responsible. Or both. Maybe both."

"What if we try letting go of it _together_?" Kevin suggests.

"It's worth a shot," Carlos replies. "For science. And because we don't have any other options. And I really don't want to have to call Frederick and tell him that we need help because we accidentally got stuck to a rock that we can't see."

Given that Frederick – a key member of Carlos' team of scientists and an expert on mystical rocks – is also the man who has built not one but two _death rays_ , this is probably for the best.

"OK," Cecil says, looking between Carlos and Kevin and then down at the thing they're all holding. Even if he can't technically _look_ at it, on account of not being able to see it. "On three? One, two… _three_."

Amazingly, it actually works. He and Kevin both take a marked step back, whilst Carlos drops the whatever-it-is to the floor. It thuds into the tile, without leaving a dint.

"Well, that was easier than I exp–" Cecil starts out, finding himself cut-off in mid-word as several smaller objects go flying from the nearest workbenches and attach themselves to the non-visible rock.

"…Oh dear," Carlos mutters. "Oh… that's not good…"

"How exactly do we stop it doing that?" Kevin now asks, as more things start flying towards the rock, creating a little ball of mis-mashed lab equipment in the middle of the floor.

"Good question," Carlos answers. "I'm going to level with you, here… I'm not entirely sure. But I think maybe we need to work it out, before that _whatever-it-is_ collapses into a singularity."

"A what?" Cecil can't help asking.

"A singularity," Carlos repeats. "The central point of a black hole."

"Ah," Cecil says, feeling slightly concerned now. "That sounds like it might be bad."

"Very," Carlos agrees. "Very bad."

"But _cool_ ," Kevin adds.

Cecil looks sideways at him. "Kevin," he says. "I love you, but no. We do not want a black hole in the house. Or the town. Or the country."

"Not even a _little_ one?"

"Not even a little one."

"Awwww."

"It _would_ be sort of cool," Carlos says, head on one side. "But… then it would absorb everything. And keep going. And possibly destroy the world. So… much as I agree on how _scientifically-fascinating_ it would be, we really do need to find a way to stop it."

They all look down at the thing in question, which is now strong enough to be dragging several of the lab chairs towards it.

"Maybe it would stop if we touched it again," Cecil wonders aloud. "Maybe it liked us."

"Cecil, it's a rock," Carlos points out, gently.

"Well, yes, but it's also some kind of non-visible _void_ ," Cecil reminds him. "And… and it didn't go like this until we touched it. So… so maybe we should try doing that again."

"Yes," Kevin concurs. "Especially because my next suggestion is going to be letting me summon Azatothoth the Bloodthirsty and have him take your weird pink rock to the Fourth Infernal Plane. Because if the Fourth Infernal Plane then gets utterly absorbed, trust me, we _will_ be in trouble with several things that have _way_ more eyes and appendages than you will enjoy looking at."

It's hard not to find Kevin completely adorable whenever he comes out with things like this, even if they are also deeply alarming things all the same.

"So… maybe we need to find a safer solution first," Cecil manages.

And, before either of the other two can move – and thereby put themselves at risk again – Cecil drops down on one knee and reaches through the little ball of lab equipment to grasp the non-visible void-rock.

The instant he does, everything around it skitters immediately to the floor as though the force holding it in place has vanished. Cecil freezes for a moment in surprise – and relief – and then rises slowly to his feet.

"Wow, that worked better than I hoped," he says.

"You should have let me do it," Kevin insists, concern on his face. "What if something had happened to you?"

"Then… it would have happened to you instead," Cecil points out.

He holds the weird thing up in front of him. He still can't see it, but he can feel it clearly in his hand, warm and smooth and definitely there.

"What now?" Kevin asks, looking at Carlos.

"I'm not entirely sure," the scientist admits. "I mean… it seems to have stopped trying to absorb my whole lab, so that's a good thing, but… Cecil can't exactly hold onto it _forever_."

"Can we take turns?" Kevin wonders. "At least until you work out what to do about it?"

"We could try," Cecil says. "But… last time more than one of us touched it at the same time, we all ended up stuck to it."

Kevin headtilts. "So… maybe you drop it into my hand," he suggests. "That way, only one of us would be touching it at any point. And… OK, seriously, has anyone noticed how weird this conversation is?"

"…Coming from you, that's quite a statement," Carlos points out, with a little smile.

Kevin shrugs. "Touché," he concedes. "But I stand by it all the same."

"You're not wrong," Cecil has to agree. "Shall we give this a try?"

So they do. And, it turns out, he can safely drop the void-rock into Kevin's hand – and then vice-versa – without anything catastrophic happening.

"Well, that's an improvement," Carlos manages. "I still have to work out what to do about it in the long-term, though."

Cecil smiles at him. "I'm sure you'll come up with something."

***

By the time Monday afternoon rolls around, Carlos has not yet come up with something. Between them, Cecil and Kevin have been able to stop the void-rock from starting to absorb the world again, but it does mean that they're taking turns essentially babysitting a rock that Cecil can't see, and Kevin still insists is hot pink.

Carlos stays up half the night trying to work out what to do about it, and in the end Cecil and Kevin have to persuade him to come to bed. Only, they can't be quite as persuasive as they would usually be, on account of the fact that one of them has to be holding the void-rock at all times.

When it's time for the pair of them to head off to the radio station for their usual broadcast, Carlos insists on coming too.

"I need to be on hand in case it does something weird," he says.

Which is very true. Though there's also an element of him wanting to be on hand so he doesn't _miss_ anything, either.

You know, for science.

The three of them step in through the radio station doors, and Cecil immediately stops.

"What is it?" Carlos asks him, concerned. "Did the rock do something weird?"

"It went cold," Cecil answers, lifting the thing he can't see to not-look at it in confusion. "Like it felt when I touched it the very first time."

"Huh," Carlos murmurs. "You could… you know, this radio station of yours really is _very_ odd, so… you could try putting it down."

"What if it tries to absorb the whole place?" Kevin asks.

"Then… then one of you picks it up again," Carlos says, quickly. "It's just a test. To see."

Cecil nods. "I'll give it a try. You are _very_ smart, after all."

"Let's hope so," Carlos replies, a little nervously.

So Cecil paces over to the reception desk. There's no one else here at the moment – hopefully that doesn't mean he's going to have to find them _another_ new intern – so it seems safe enough to risk putting the void-rock down at one end. Taking a deep breath, Cecil lets go of it and takes a step back.

And… nothing. The three of them stand, staring at where the rock (allegedly) is, no one daring to utter a word for a very, very long moment.

"I think… I think it worked," Cecil risks saying, finally.

"Yeah," Kevin agrees, taking a step closer to the thing but most assuredly not touching it. "I think it did."

"I _knew_ this radio station was weird," Carlos manages.

They stare at the void-rock some more. Or, where it supposedly is, at least.

"You think we can risk leaving it here?" Kevin wonders. "I mean… it seems like it's fine now…"

"True," Carlos agrees. "But… it's still really dangerous. We should at least have someone keep an eye on it… or on where it is. You know what I mean. And we should definitely warn people not to touch it. And… I did mention that it's dangerous, right?"

Cecil slides an arm around him. "Carlos," he says. "This is Night Vale Community Radio. It's hardly the most dangerous thing here."

And, world-absorbing void-rock or not, he knows he's not wrong.

Not by a long-shot.

***

 _"…and that's how the radio station ended up with its very own pet rock!"_ Kevin enthuses, as they reach the end of their story on-air.

 _"It's quite a thing,"_ Cecil agrees. _"Carlos has put some warning tape up around it, and he's going to keep dropping by to monitor its progress, but by all accounts, our weird little void-rock seems to be right at home here."_

Kevin grins at him over the broadcast table. _"He's even given it a name. Schwarzschild. Which I think is just_ adorable _."_

 _"It really is,"_ Cecil says, smiling too. _"It really is. So, if you're ever passing the radio station, do feel free to stop by and see – or, technically, not-see – the void-rock that almost ate Night Vale!"_

 _"We'll keep you posted on that one,"_ Kevin adds. _"Stay tuned next for our newest series: 'Bees – And What They're Really Up To!' And, as always: goodnight, Greater Night Vale and Desert Bluffs Metropolitan Area…"_

He and Cecil exchange another look, and another smile, before intoning – in well-practised unison – _"Goodnight."_

**Author's Note:**

> Those of you who have read my first Night Vale fic series, The Eye & The Aperture, will note that this is not the first time these three have gotten their hands on a proto-black hole. It is, however, definitely the best they've managed with one!
> 
> Catch you all soon, dear readers. Until next time!


End file.
